1. Field of the Invention.
This invention generally relates to a hand-rest type device for providing postural support to assist disabled individuals (e.g. quadriplegics) in transferring themselves between a bed and a wheelchair. More particularly, the device is adapted to be mounted on the side rail of a bed frame for assisting a disabled person in getting out of bed without requiring the assistance of another individual.
2. Background Art.
Many individuals do not have the physical strength to transfer from a sitting position on the side of a bed to a wheelchair. Therefore, they require some assistance in transferring safely from the bed to the wheelchair. Examples of the many people who sometimes require assistance in getting into and out of bed are back pain sufferers who frequently experience excruciating pain, especially when lowering their upper torso the last eight or nine inches into bed or raising their upper body the first eight or nine inches when lifting out of bed. Experience has shown that the pain persists regardless of whether the attempt is made while the individual is lying on his side, back or stomach. Other people who may require such assistance are the physically disabled (e.g. quadriplegics).
Current methods for assisting an individual in transferring from a seated position on the side of his bed to a wheelchair subject the individual to falling and possible injury. Some individuals are confined to a wheelchair due to brain strokes which often result in either right or left-side paralysis or weakness. The process of making the bed to wheelchair transfer is taught by rehabilitation specialists with or without the use of a transfer or slider board. Using the transfer or slider board by a weak-sided person is difficult because it must be used on the weak or paralyzed side. Without the transfer or slider board, the individual is trained to push his body up from the bed mattress by pressing down on the mattress using his functioning hand and twisting his crouching torso into the wheelchair.
Thus, a need has existed for a low-cost, easy to use support device for assisting an individual with back pain to get into and out of bed. A common solution which sometimes helps to ease the pain is to keep a quadruped cane at the bedside that, because of its broad base, provides a relatively stable structure which the patient can grasp onto for support so as to be able to pull his upper torso up or down while getting out of or into bed. However, because the lower end of the quadruped cane is not firmly anchored, its stability and, therefore, its effectiveness as a postural support device is limited. Since most people experience medical or non-medical aging problems only periodically and, therefore, do not require assistance at all times, the conventional quadruped cane offers the advantage that it can be easily stowed away when it is not needed and returned to the bedside when support assistance is necessary. This flexibility is of importance to older people, most of whom aspire to live as independently as possible in their own homes, who may be embarrassed by otherwise having to constantly park an assistance device in plain view alongside their bed with the consequence of revealing their infirmity to visitors.
A device which performs a function similar to that provided by a cane is manufactured by Arco Products of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and marketed under the trademark ARCORAIL. This device consists of a cane, one end of which rests upon the floor and is attached to the side rail of an angle iron bed frame for vertical support. The cane is secured to the bed by a clamping system which includes a bar that extends across the bed and is clamped at opposite ends thereof to the opposing side rails. The length of the cross bar is adjustable to accommodate use of the device on single, double or larger size beds. The cane is telescopic for convenient height adjustment.
While the Arco Products device would appear to provide the desired assistance, it has the serious disadvantage that once it is installed on the bed, it is plainly visible. Thus, this device may cause embarrassment to the individual for the same reasons as those discussed above. Moreover, this laterally extending device may actually interfere with the individual""s ability to rise from the bed during times when outside assistance is no longer needed. What is even more, the means for attaching this device to and across a bed is relatively cumbersome and heavy, weighting approximately eleven pounds, and therefore costly to manufacture and difficult to transport.
Accordingly, what is still needed is a low cost, light weight and sturdy device to be attached to the existing side rail of a conventional bed to assist an individual in transferring from the bed to a wheelchair. Such a device must be capable of assisting an individual while he is lying down or rising up form the bed. Similarly, the device must be adapted to be easily attached to the bed and stowed out of sight of others when not in use while, at the same time, allowing unencumbered access to the bed.
Another example of a transfer assist device is available by referring to U.S. Pat, No. 5,337,430 issued Aug. 16, 1994.
A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a transfer assist device to enable either a disabled individual to safely and easily transfer from a sitting position on the side of a bed to a wheelchair or a pain suffering individual to raise and lower his upper torso between prone and seated positions on the bed. The height of the transfer assist device is adjustable above the floor so as to be reliably, quickly and easily attached to the existing metal bed rail. By grabbing onto a removable handle of the device, the individual will be able to push his body off the mattress and toward the wheelchair. Once partially in the wheelchair, the device is used to stabilize the individual""s body and assist him in sliding back into the seat of the wheelchair. The handle of the device can be easily removed by the individual and moved to a nearby but out of sight location to facilitate his return from the wheelchair to the bed without revealing the individual""s infirmity or blocking the individual""s legs from swinging onto the bed.